Systems, methods and substrates of monocrystalline germanium crystal growth
AssigneeAXT, Inc.
InventorWeiguo Liu
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Abstract
Systems, methods, and substrates directed to growth of monocrystalline germanium (Ge) crystals are disclosed. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a method for growing a monocrystalline germanium (Ge) crystal. Moreover, the method may include loading first raw Ge material into a crucible, loading second raw Ge material into a container for supplementing the Ge melt material, sealing the crucible and the container in an ampoule, placing the ampoule with the crucible into a crystal growth furnace, as well as melting the first and second raw Ge material and controlling the crystallizing temperature gradient of the melt to reproducibly provide monocrystalline germanium ingots with improved/desired characteristics.
Claims21
A method for growing a monocrystalline germanium (Ge) crystal, comprising:
- loading a first raw Ge material into a crucible, the crucible including a seed well holding a seed crystal;
- loading a second raw Ge material into a container for supplementing the first raw Ge material;
- sealing the crucible and the container in an ampoule;
- placing the ampoule in a crystal growth furnace having a movable ampoule support that supports the ampoule;
- melting the first raw Ge material in the crucible to create a melt;
- melting the second raw Ge material in the container;
- adding the second raw Ge material as melted to the melt;
- controlling a crystallizing temperature gradient of the melt so that the melt crystallizes when in contact with the seed crystal and forms a monocrystalline germanium ingot;
- and
- cooling the monocrystalline germanium ingot.
A method for growing a monocrystalline germanium (Ge) crystal, comprising:
- loading a first raw Ge material into a crucible, the crucible including a seed well holding a seed crystal;
- loading a second raw Ge material into a container for supplementing the first raw Ge material;
- sealing the crucible and the container in an ampoule;
- placing the ampoule in a crystal growth furnace;
- controlling melt of the first raw Ge material in the crucible to create a melt;
- controlling melt of the second raw Ge material in the container;
- adding the second raw Ge material as melted to the melt;
- controlling a crystallizing temperature gradient of the melt so that the melt crystallizes when in contact with the seed crystal and forms a monocrystalline germanium ingot;
- and
- cooling the monocrystalline germanium ingot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.